Another great week at BTL ended with a rush on friday. I went from hangin’ with the carpenters on thursday to coaching four different and similar CEO’s on friday. I LOVE the variety this work brings and I LOVE that our framework really works with wildly different people and insanely diverse teams. In fact, on friday I had a front row seat to four very different examples of BTL in action.
CEO one I visited at his home. See Dad, I make housecalls too 🙂 We spent the first thirty minutes talking about my basketball team. He can’t seem to get enough of one of my favorite topics. This CEO I’ve been with for years. He fought the process HARD. He fired me once. We began to really connect late summer when his conflict began to rise. We still fight. We don’t see eye to eye on a lot of topics. One is a straight shooter and holds nothing back. I love that. We are beginning to laugh. He’s got some really BIG conflict coming and he knows I will help. Cool.
CEO two is a SPONGE. We’ve been working together for only four months. He’s gone NUTS. In fact, last night I told Miss that I’ve never had a client “breakthrough” in this amount of time. He asks the best questions, writes with abandon, finds the melody line with precision, and EXTRAPOLATES to his work and life like none other!! This is HIS signature strength. Forget what any label is going to tell him…this is huge. He learns things on day one and by day two he is applying them in his work and life. His company can already tell he’s been “liberated.” Stinkin’ AWESOME!
CEO three has put BTL into the company DNA. We’ve been together for years and can finish each others sentences. He has grown out of everything. His team has forgotten what he used to look like. Very cool. Yesterday, however, he took a couple punches to the midsection from the old coach. He’s still got a couple conflicts to resolve. Do NOT miss the message here. The BTL process is a journey period. We never ARRIVE. Even once we gain mass faster than Jose Conseco on ‘roids we keep going. We take on tougher tests. We Walk on. We walk into conflict that we’ve walked around for years. We more consistently act out our beliefs. Very cool.
My final trip was another housecall. As the snow began to fall, I drove to the home of CEO four. This place reminds me of Kansas. Lots of land and a sense of isolated beauty. Four is another new relationship. We’ve been together about six months. He’s another work in process. BTW, we ALL are. Four is really changing. He’s engaged his senior team right out of the chute and it’s already paying the TRUST dividend. You can feel it. However, the biggest change with four is with his body language.
The biggest change I’ve noticed with Four is that he smiles more now. Come to think of it so does ONE. And, now that you mention it, TWO started our time together with his awareness around his smiling at strangers, opening doors and waiting, and generally feeling better. He even said when he spoke from the heart it was easier than when he had used his notes and, amazingly, when he came clean with the team, they didn’t “let me have it!!”
CEO’s and carpenters have a LOT in common. They both have FEAR and they both want LOVE. They both want to connect and they both let CONFLICT get in the way. They both want to WORK and want their WORK to matter. Here’s an odd one I’ve recently noticed.
They both look like themselves…when they really SMILE.
What are you letting hold you back?
Who do you really want to build connections toward? Why? Why? Why?
What is stopping you from coming clean? Why? Why? Why?
DONE SO.
BUILT TO LEAD 